Cupcakes for the Graduate

When I found out that our nephew Cris was going to walk in the ASU graduation ceremonies, I quickly volunteered to bake cupcakes for his celebration. And when his wife told me that his favorite candy was Reese's Peanut Butter cups I was on it!

Carrie had seen the idea for the chocolate graduation caps somewhere (Sorry...I don't know the original source because a Google search provides a plethora of options). I used a hot skillet to touch the peanut butter cups to just so there was a melted surface, then I stuck them to a chocolate square (I used Ghirardelli). Then I piped a line of yellow frosting for the tassel and topped each with a small M&M for the button. They were a big hit! The cupcakes were yummy too - I found this recipe for chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting - perfect with those mortar board toppers.

I also made red velvet cupcakes and created some toppers with ASU logos printed on cardstock, punched and attached to toothpicks. Note the gold star sprinkles - love! The "CONGRATULATIONS CRIS" banner was cut with my Cricut, and the fringe banner was made from a plastic tablecloth using this tutorial.

Oh man, creating this post has me wishing we had just one cupcake left over...

As guests were leaving the party that night I had some cupcake boxes on hand for take-away's. I loved being able to do that!

It was so much fun to make cupcakes for a family function that included my side of the family. Doug's family lives locally so my baking stints are usually for my in-laws. I loved being able to make these chocolate cupcakes for my nephew, Cris. And the red velvets for my niece, Savannah. And Carrie, of course.

 

Who does the baking in your family?

♥

Baby Shower Weekend Recap

Hi there, blog friends!

♥

This past weekend Carrie and I traveled to California where my sister and I hosted a baby shower for our sister-in-law, Ryann. We had such a great time celebrating with family, and my weekend recap for today is all about the baby. ♥

My brother Ron and his wife, Ryann are expecting a baby girl at the end of February, and we are so excited to welcome sweet baby Olivia!

We chose a pink and ivory theme, and decorated with little birds and birdcages.

I had seen this fringe banner a while back and just loved it - had to make it myself! I used a Cricut die cutting machine, with Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for the letters, and Songbird cartridge for the birds and birdhouse shapes.


There were no flowers in my house this weekend, but there were certainly some at my sister's house! {I'm linking up with Flower Jane over at Small But Charming for "Flowers in the House!"}

My sister found these cute game cards and pencils online, and it was so much fun to play a few games and award prizes to our guests. We had five games altogether, and our prizes were some cute coffee mugs my sister picked up with a Starbucks gift card tucked inside. We also used the two bouquets of pink and white carnations as prizes too.

I made favor boxes using this tutorial and different shapes cut with the Songbird cartridge. Inside were Hershey's kisses, some heart confetti, and a little note thanking our guests for coming to help us celebrate our sweet Olivia.

We showered Ryann with gifts and well wishes, and I just couldn't resist snapping a photo of her adorable baby bump. Gosh, there's just something so magical about the whole baby-making-experience. Well...not the initial baby-making...I mean the pregnancy itself...well...you know what I mean! I couldn't keep my hands off Ryann's tummy and she was such a good sport about it. Love!!!

I loved that my mom's brother {our Uncle Ken} was able to bring our grandma to my sister's house to celebrate with us. She really enjoyed celebrating with us, playing games, and having cake. It's crazy to think about how much has changed since she was birthing her babies all those years ago.

My sister, Valerie, is such an awesome hostess and party-thrower. She is witty and fun and has a gift for entertaining. Combine her hostess-ing with my decorating and you have a pretty cool party, if I do say so myself!

All in all it was an awesome weekend! We got to spend time with my siblings, our cousins and friends - all for the purpose of celebrating the new addition to our family.

♥

"You know what the great thing about babies is?

They are like little bundles of hope.

Like the future in a basket."

~ Lish McBride

Twenty Turkeys {and a tutorial}

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Good day, blog friends!

Doug and I are hosting Thanksgiving dinner for my family {so excited that everyone is coming!!!} next week so we were busy around here this past weekend! While Doug was busy outside, I was inside with paper and glue {thanks for painting the patio lid, Doug!}.

I've made these turkey table favors before and have used different tail styles, but this time I wanted to use silk leaves from a garland I purchased at my local craft store. These little guys are super easy to make and I can sum up how they're done with just a few photos. {And while I am so fortunate to have the right tools, these are still doable without fancy punches! Just trace some shapes, cut by hand and glue.}

2 circles {one small, one large}

1/2 small red heart

1 larger heart for his feet

2 googly eyes

1 small triangle {cut by hand}

1 peppermint patty

1 leaf

1 pop-dot 

glue

Hey, you!

Count your blessings.

♥

Linking up today:

      

Boo! It's Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!

♥

I had a whole different post written and ready for today about how we were doing nothing for Halloween this year. Doug was away on a deer hunt, and I have about 50 things to do before leaving for California again this weekend {for something fun this time: my nephew's wedding!}.

October 2012 was a bit of a bust for me. I had a few Halloween packages made up, envelopes addressed, and they never made it into the mail. These little goodies in the photos are a few that did make it out - I made Halloween treat bags for my grandma and uncle. I wonder when was the last time either of them wore a spider ring? ;o)

Unfortunately for Doug, {and fortunately for the deer} he returned from his hunt two days early empty handed. Well, except for a cool antler shed he found, and three heart shaped rocks - which makes it a successful hunt in my opinion. 

We weren't going to carve pumpkins this year, but as soon as Carrie knew that Doug would be home in time, she insisted that we do it. So, I bought a couple of pumpkins so that each of them had their own to carve, and I sat out this year. {Dumb shoulder issues still, and I had a cake to bake last night.}

 

So, this is my random Halloween post, quite a bit different than I originally planned, but that's alright by me.

It's been a very different kind of October, indeed.

But November? Well now that's gonna' be a different story.

Ima 'bout to make it amazing!

♥

A Cornucopia of Flavors...and favors.

Hi Blog Friends!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had volunteered to bring favors to my sister's house for Thanksgiving this year. My original idea to make little jelly bean filled pumpkins didn't work out like I'd planned {plus I decided that making 24 of them wouldn't be that much fun...} so when I saw this idea on my friend, Mary Lou's blog I quickly changed directions!

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To create the cornucopia, I steamed sugar/waffle ice cream cones over boiling water to soften them, then curled them up at the end to create a cornucopia look.

Some things to note:
* I steamed three cones at a time because it was hard to keep up with them once they're steamed - they start to harden up right away.
* It took at least 90 seconds before the cones started to soften up enough to become pliable.
* The molding of the cones/cornucopias is grown-up's work - let the kiddos help you fill them once they've cooled.

I filled the cornucopias with Reeses Pieces, candy corn flavored M&M's, candy corn, cashews, and pretzel sticks. Oh yeah, and love. ♥

I made these tags to tie on by using Microsoft Word and the pre-set template for business cards - shaded in the background and used a white font. Easy!

And that's it. I ended up making a total of 28 favors and I'm so excited to share them with my family!

Next week!!!

:o)!!!

November Attitude of Gratitude:

* I'm so grateful that Doug, Carrie, and I get to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year.

* I'm thankful for a sister who is hosting T-giving at her house!

* And thankful for same said sister who gives me creative license on favors and flowers.

Linking to Skip to My Lou - Made by You Mondays

Little Baby Jelly Belly Pumpkin

Thanksgiving is less than four weeks away!

♥

We'll be traveling to California to enjoy our Thanksgiving holiday with my family this year. Dinner will be at my sister's house, and I'm bringing table favors.

I had this idea to make pumpkins similar to the ones that Carrie and I made last year, except I'll use Jelly Belly jellybeans to fill them. Before purchasing fabric for this project I thought I'd do a test run on the shape and size. {Don't panic, Sis, they won't be bright orange for Thanksgiving.}

I made the stem by writing a note on a small piece of paper, rolling it up and sticking it in before pulling the gathering threads tight. Seemed like a good idea, but I wasn't happy with the looks of it, plus there's a tendency to pick the pumpkin up by its little stem, causing it to slip right out of the pumpkin.

Hm... I'm not sure about this... I may be back to the drawing board, though I do have a few different directions I could go with this...

I'll be playing with fabric and pumpkin shapes this weekend.

How about you?
Any pumpkins in your weekend plans?

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Celebrating the bride ♥

Sweet treats for our niece, Karie, for her bridal shower...

When I volunteered to make party favors for our niece's bridal shower I knew I'd need some help with the basics. {I'm still nursing a sore shoulder and knew that 50 boxes and tags probably wasn't a good idea to do on my own.} I had the girls over a few weeks ago to help fold the boxes, and then I took it from there... {well...kind of...}

My SIL, Laurie (Karie's mom) punched all these butterflies because I thought I'd be using them on the top of the boxes. As it turned out, I wasn't happy with the looks of them on top...

so I tucked them inside, along with 3 Hershey's Hugs and 3 Kisses.

A big thanks to Doug and my girl C for punching circles for the tags!
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This afternoon we will gather at the home of Karie's maid-of-honor to celebrate her upcoming nuptials.

And each of her guests will take one of these home with them.

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Made by me, with the help of my friends.
{Thanks, you guys, for all your help!!!}
xo xo xo xo xo xo xo